Christ + Nothing = Everything

“For when we came into Macedonia, we had no rest, but we were harassed at every turn – conflicts on the outside, fears within.  But God, who comforts the downcast, comforted us.” 

– 2 Corinthians 7:5-6b

A couple of days ago I was having a really rough day.   It seemed like everything was just falling apart and whatever I did, just made it worse. Got to love when days like that come rolling around, but more importantly you’ve got to love how God is always faithful to give us the strength and encouragement to get through them.  I woke up the next morning with the song “Give Me Faith” by Elevation Worship in my head and opened my Bible to 2 Corinthians 7:5-6. 

I read that verse and instantly felt the Lord speaking to me.  No rest, harassment, conflict and fear… Yep, sounds about right. I don’t know about you, but there tends to always be a season in my life where these four things show up.  Times where I feel like I am stuck on a treadmill, running, but not going anywhere and not able to jump off.  Times where every turn or movement I make returns with a strong backlash.  Times when it seems like there is no peace, instead there is only tension.  Times when you hate yourself because you are scared, scared of the unknown or even better when you don’t even know where the fear is coming from.  It can all seem a little overwhelming at times.   Yet, then we look at the second part of these verses, and those two magic words “But God.”

All of this can be happening, but God.  No matter what it is, those two words cancel it all out, which makes the math easy.  All we have to do is turn our eyes on Him and He is faithful to bring us through and give us peace.  It makes me think of Paul at the end of acts.  Throughout chapters 27 and 28 Paul is in a huge storm and then shipwrecked.  During the storm, the men are terrified, and when Paul speaks to them he says, “Last night an angel of the God to whom I belong and whom I serve stood beside me and said, ‘Do not be afraid, Paul’ (Acts 27:23-24b).  The angel then continues to remind Paul that God has a plan for him in Rome and that his time is not yet over, so to take courage because God is faithful to His word, but that the ship would be shipwrecked.  You would think that would be enough excitement for Paul, but there was still more to come.

After being shipwrecked and swimming for his life, Paul gets bit by a viper while collecting fire wood.  It says in chapter 28, verse 3, “a viper, driven out by the heat, fastened itself on his hand.”   This extremely poisonous viper doesn’t just bite Paul and then let go, no he latches on, never intending to let go.  How much is that like Satan?  Satan doesn’t just throw an attack at us for a couple seconds and then ease up and go away.  No, he does everything he can to try and get as much venom into our blood stream as possible and holds on with strength.  But, what does Paul do?  In verse 5 it says, “But Paul shook the snake off into the fire and suffered no ill effects.” Paul doesn’t let it move him, he shakes it off, kills it in the fire (he kills it, it is no more) and then he suffers no ill effect.  No ill effect from a vipers bite?  That is impossible… But God.

There are storms, storms that cause us to fear for our lives, but we see that in that storm Paul was not alone.  Paul was comforted and encouraged by the words of an angel of the Lord, this angel was standing by him through the storm.  Yes, they lost their cargo, their supplies, and their ship, but not one life on the ship was lost.  We can lose all that we have here on earth, but we know that we cannot lose our life in Christ.  Finally we can get bit by the viper of life, and that bite can come in many different forms (bitterness, fear, anger, depression, etc.), but what matters is that we shake it off, kill it in the fire and let God be the restorer of life, for then we will suffer no harm.  All we have to do is look to Him and He “who comforts the downcast, [will] comfort us.”

Do We Think We Are Above Falling

“For though the righteous fall seven times, they rise again, but the wicked stumble when calamity strikes.” – Proverbs 24:16

                The feeling of being trapped, not able to escape and slowly beginning to believe that you are a failure – have you ever felt that?  I think that this can be a very common feeling and a common feeling in the church.  I know that I have felt this way many times, but I was too ashamed to talk about it.  When we become saved the Bible says we die to our flesh and our alive in Him. We are a new creation, called to be holy, we are called to obey God.  Does that make us Holy as soon as we rise up from the water we are being baptized in?  No, of course not, because it is a growing process that takes endurance for the rest of our lives.

                While here in Costa Rica we have six books assigned to us as reading material.  The book that I am reading now is called “The Pursuit of Holiness,” and I really like it. It talks about the importance to be holy, the fact that it is our responsibility (through God’s strength) to run towards holiness, but also the fact that we will fall.  When he talked about this verse in Proverbs, I was amazed that I never had noticed it before.  So often we think that as Christian we won’t or can’t fall, because people are watching us and we are called to a higher standard.  Yet, at the very same time we know that we are not perfect and that it is only through the work of the Holy Spirit that we can overcome our flesh.  But as my teammate’s mom once said, “Who do we think we are, that we could be above sinning?” 

                This hit me hard, right in the face.  I had always felt this pressure, this pressure to make sure everything was right, to live up to the standard and not fall below status quo.  People so often would put me up on this standard, and “pick on me” for never messing up.  I hated it.  The hardest thing about it, was that I knew that I messed up and that I messed up very often.  Like Paul says, “I do what I don’t want to do and don’t do what I want to do.”  Reading this book has been so confirming and comforting in a way.  The righteous fall, but they get back up.  Yes, we all make mistakes and multiple times, but what do we do about it?  Do we get back up and run our race?  Do we lay it at the feet of Jesus, asking for His strength to endure?  “The righteous fall seven times, [but] they rise again.”   We all fall short, that is why we need a savior.  If we magically stopped sinning, then we would no longer need Jesus Christ our Savior.  He calls us to live a Holy life and that is why we run our race, so that He might mold us into a new creation.  He is going to chip away all the dirt and failure in our lives, we just have to lean on Him and let Him.

In Our Weakness, He Is Strong

“And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.” – Philippians 4:7

                “To make or become quiet; to be silent; to stop.  When the thunder would not peace at my bidding” (Webster’s Dictionary).  The absence of a storm, is that peace?   Many people, I think, would say yes.   They would say that there is peace when the sky is clear and the water is calm.  But, I find it interesting that even in Webster’s Dictionary the quote says, “When the thunder would not peace at my bidding.”   The thunder did not silence, instead the person silenced.  They stopped, became still, and sat in quiet silence as the storm raged on around them.   Is that not what we are supposed to do as Christians?

                The last couple weeks I have been thinking a lot about Paul and his writings.  Then this Sunday we were in the book of 2 Corinthians chapter 12, where Paul talks about the thorn in his side.  He writes, “Therefore, in order to keep me from becoming conceited, I was given a thorn in my flesh, a messenger from Satan to torment me.  Three times I pleaded with the Lord to take it away from me” (2 Corinthians 12:7-8). But, God says no.  How often can we relate to this?  We are in a storm, a hardship, or facing a challenge and we beg God to just take it away.  We ask that He would give us peace, that He would clear our vision, and that He would calm the storm in our lives and our hearts.  We beg, and yet so often we are met with the two letter word “no.”  Why?  Because in Jeremiah 29:11 God says, “For I know the plans I have for you declares the Lord, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you a hope and a future.” 

                 God never puts challenges and storms in our lives to trip us on purpose, He doesn’t want to harm or hurt us.  No, He puts challenges in our lives to make us run to Him, to grow us, to make us stronger in His power and to keep us humbled at His feet.  God’s answer to Paul was this, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” It is when we turn our eyes upon Him, and lean on His strength and not our own, that we have peace.  We might be facing something that is impossible to handle in our own strength, but with God everything is possible.  As Paul says, “for Christ’s sake I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardship, in persecutions, in difficulties.  For when I am weak, then I am strong.”  We must first accept our weakness, then “Let Go and Let God,” and that is when we find His peace. For when I am weak, God is strong.

VBS!

So, last week we had a VBS here in Costa Rica, It went so well and we saw God's hands moving. God sent down a team to make it all possible, but not only did they bless these kids and this town, they blessed Haley and me. The kids here can actually be really shy with new people, but we just watched as this team poured the love of Christ over them, and the kids opened up. We also became part of their team while they were here, it wasn't them and us, it was everyone working together to further God's kingdom. We got to spend the night with these amazing people, spend time in fellowship, prayer and devotionals. An answer to prayer. I don't know if they will ever know how much they blessed all of us here. God has perfect timing and He knows exactly what He is doing. We watched so many kids give their hearts to Jesus, and there were Bibles placed in their hands. Please keep the kids in your prayers and thank you for all of your prayers, the VBS was awesome.

Peace In Our Confusion

“You saw me before I was born.  Every day of my life was recorded in your book.  Every moment was laid out before a single day had passed.  How precious are your thoughts about me, O God.  They cannot be numbered!  I can’t even count them; they outnumber the grains of sand!  And when I wake up, you are still with me!”  - Psalm 139:16-18

“In the morning when I rise, give me Jesus.  When I am alone, give me Jesus.  When I come to die, give me Jesus.   You can have all this world, just give me Jesus.”  I love this song, it reminds me of the verse that says, what good is it to gain the whole world but lose your soul?

In this life we have so many plans, so many desires, but the only desire we need is Jesus Christ.  It can be so easy to become the Martha, instead of the Mary, and get so caught up in the work we are doing for Jesus; consequently, forgetting to just sit at His feet, to desire Him and Him alone. While in Guatemala I remember Pastor D saying, “We need to be distracted by Jesus, so that nothing else can distract us away from Him.”  If we are so caught up in Jesus, that nothing else can grab our attention, then we are definitely in His sweet spot.  This though, of course, is easier said than done.

Reading this verse I focused on the first half.  God has a plan and He has known the end since the beginning.  How nice it would be to know God’s plan.  Being in IGNITE has definitely confused the plan (aka. “My Plan”) a little bit.  Which, to be honest, can be hard.  My life has always had an order in my mind, there was a plan.  Everything else could fall apart, but I had control over one thing, where I was going. Well, at least that is what I thought.  Ehhh, wrong. God’s plan is bigger than my plan, it has more turns and bridges, it requires faith and trust in the One who is guiding me.  To follow His plan requires me to constantly be running to Him for guidance, to constantly be seeking His face, and to constantly be distracted by Him.  

That is what made me focus on the second half of this verse, “And when I wake, you are still with me!”  Life, sometimes can feel like a path with no light.  You know that you are walking on the path, you know it is guiding you to where you need to go, but you have a blindfold covering your eyes.  One has to trust the one guiding them on the dimly lit path.  It is when one lets go of the guide that one gets lost.  Just like when we become distracted by other voices, many times our own, instead of following the Holy Spirit that we too get lost.   We need to know our shepherd’s voice, He needs to be our all in all, the one who consumes our thoughts.

Only then will the path slowly shed light.

But even then,

We must trust. 

We Don't always know what is next, or what we are called for in any certain instance.  God never promised us complete clarity, but He did promise us His peace.

How Often Do We Ask Why?

“But the jar the He was forming did not turn out as He has hoped, so He crushed it into a lump of clay and started again.” – Jeremiah  18:4

I remember so clearly the first time God really used this verse to speak to my heart.  I was around 17 and I was doing a Singles Life talk at a Christian girls retreat.  When I read the second half of this verse I remember the chill, my heart started racing and the verse just came alive in that moment. How awesome is the power of God’s word and how crazy is the fact that it doesn’t only happen once?  Here in Costa Rica God has again laid this verse on my heart, just not for the same reasons.

Let me try to explain what I mean (by how it is different).  If you have ever watched Pastor Mike’s pottery presentation in church you might remember a certain part that no one really expects.  You watch Pastor Mike make a vase, a beautiful vase, and then all of a sudden it seems as if he is intentionally destroying it.  But, that is not what he is doing.  The entire time he was planning on making a bowl, and so he had to cause parts of the clay to collapse and then rework on other parts.  The first time I saw this presentation the first thought that popped into my mind was, “why?”  Why, it doesn’t make sense, I don’t understand.  How often is that my first thought when God does something in my life?  Why.

I guess what I am trying to say is this, how often do we feel like we too are being crushed and all we can do is ask why.  We can have peace and hope that the Lord is in control, this gives us rest and strength, but we often still ask why.  Right before I left for IGNITE my dad got literally crushed by a truck, just a couple of days before my brother’s wedding.  I remember being at work when I heard the news and all I could do was walk back and forth in the copy room, praying.  All I could say was, “Lord why?  I know that you are in control, I know that you can do wonders through this.  You are a great God and You give me Your peace.  But, right now I am so confused.  Please Lord, please, show me what you are doing in this and please let me selfishly keep my father here on earth.” 

God still hasn’t show my family and me what He was and is doing through that accident.  As soon as we were starting to be able to stand on our feet financially God took that blessing from us.  I don’t know why and that is okay.  When I found out I was being sent to Costa Rica, the first thing I said in my mind was “why?” It was the last place I wanted to be sent, and yet I had complete peace because I knew that was where God wanted me.  Now I wouldn’t have wanted to be sent anywhere else, in all truthfulness.  I still don’t know why God sent me here, but He is slowly revealing to me why He placed me here.  But, we are in the beginning of month three and He begins to answer my question of why.  Go to love His timing and the lessons we learn through it. J 

It reminds me of a song, How He Loves.  The first verse goes, “He is jealous for me, loves like a hurricane, I am a tree, bending beneath the weight of His wings and mercy.”  It was actually when I was thinking of this song that God put this verse on my heart.  God’s love is described as a hurricane, an extremely strong and destructive storm.  Hurricanes can take away everything a person has in an instant and I am sure those people always wonder “why them.”  But the song says that we bend, not that we break.  Just like a hurricane brings rain, clay needs water in order for it to be flexible, in order for it to be moldable.  How much easier is it to trust ourselves, to become “hard and dry” to God’s molding when we think that we have it.  Yet, when we are in the middle of a storm, we tend to lean on Him more, we tend to be more flexible to His voice.  We don’t ask why, we ask how we can learn to dance in the rain.  We let go and Let God.  

Trust.

Hope that made sense! God bless :) 

Against All Hope, We Have Hope

“Against all hope, Abraham in hope believed and so became the father of many nations, just as it had been said to him, ‘So shall your offspring be.’  Without weakening in his faith, he faced the fact that his body was as good as dead – since he was about a hundred years old – and that Sarah’s womb was also dead.  Yet he did not waver in unbelief regarding the promise of God, but was strengthened in his faith and gave glory to God, being fully persuaded that God had the power to do what He promised.”

 – Romans 4:18-21

            God will do what He has promised. Against all odds we have two words we can always say, “But God.”  Nothing is impossible with Him, instead all things are possible through Him.

            When I read these verses in my morning devotional time, it was verse eighteen that really stood out to me.  It says, “Against all hope, Abraham in hope believed…”  There was no hope, I do not know one person who would say “Yea Abraham! No worries, you can totally have a child!” No.  It goes against everything logical, it is physically “impossible.”  If a couple came to the church and asked for prayer, because they wanted a child, but they were in their nineties, people would probably, very nicely, explain to them how this is never going to happen.

            Yet, even though there was no hope, it says that Abraham did not waver in unbelief, his faith was not shaken.  Instead, his faith was strengthened and he was fully convinced that God would do what He had promised.  There was no doubt in his mind, he put all his hope in God, not in what man said was logical or possible. Wow.  Whenever I read about Abraham I am so encouraged by his amazing faith in the One he followed.  God said go, Abraham went.  God said multiply, Abraham believed.  God said sacrifice, Abraham obeyed. 

            God kept His promise to Abraham and Abraham had one son.  Then God told him to offer his only son as a sacrifice, Abraham took the steps of obedience until God held back his hand.  His only son, the only way that Abraham could become the father of a great nation (as God had promised), and we see Abraham willing to even give that up for God.  All of Abrahams hope was in the Lord.  Even when there was no hope, Abrahams faith was strengthened, he gave all the glory to God, because he knew that it is only through God’s power that anything righteous can be possible.

Abraham knew that he was close to death, he was not naive to the facts of life, but he was also not naive of the awesome power of God.  Abraham knew how big his God is, I pray that I too will grow and have the faith of Abraham.  We cannot focus on our ability, surroundings or knowledge, because we will only become discouraged by what this world has to offer.  Instead we need to be like Abraham, even when there is no hope, we will hope.  Because we know the One who holds all things together, we know the author and finisher of time.  

What Do We Put Our Hope In?

"Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them.  Are you not much more valuable than they?" - Matthew 6:26

While we were working at the church this morning, Don Victor noticed that there was a bird laying on the ground.  He picked it up and gentle placed it into my hands, where it simply sat looking around and staring at me.  It didn't seem frightened at all, it was completely content to rest in my hand.  I had no idea if the bird was hurt or if it could fly, so I just brushed it's feathers with the tip of my finger and kept softly talking to it.  Just as I was thinking that I should put the bird down somewhere, it suddenly took off flying. The entire time this bird had the ability to go, to fly and yet it was content to simply rest in my hands.

As I was holding this bird Matthew 6 kept running through my head.  "Are you not much more valuable then they?"  In Matthew 6:33-34 it says, "But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself.  Each day has enough trouble of its own."  These are verses that most people in the Church are all very familiar with, but I think they are some of the hardest verses to put 100% of our trust in.  Jesus is telling us to let go of all our worries, to rest completely in His hands.  He is promising to provide for us, we are His children whom He loves. He is telling us to keep our eyes focused on Him, to be distracted by Him and Him alone.

We read these verses and we feel so encouraged and so loved by our Savior who is telling us to rest in Him.  To not think about tomorrow, but to Press On, because He has the whole world in His hands.  It is something that is so easy to read, to teach and to say we totally believe.  But then this funny thing called life hits and it can hit us hard sometimes.  That is when we are stretched, when God tests our faith to see if we are truly standing on Him, our unshakable rock.

A couple of weeks ago I was talking to Sarah - she was here for three and a half weeks working with us - and we were talking about Gods plan.  Jeremiah 29:11, "For I know the plans I have for you declares the Lord, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you a hope and a future." So often God's plans are not exactly what we expected them to be.  There are glitches, storms, falls and confusion. It is so easy to get worried, confused and scared that things will end up staying in darkness and that there will never be any rest or light.  Yet, God tells us to rest in Him.  To lean not on our own understanding, but to rest completely in Him and let Him direct our path.  We both agreed that it is such an amazing comfort to know that everything happens for a reason and that God works everything out for His glory.  Yes, things get hard and we can be so confused, but as long as we nestle in His hands and trust that He knows exactly what we need and exactly what time we need it, then we can have hope.  With that hope, through faith, we can have joy and with God's strength (just like this little bird) we can fly.  God takes care of all of His creation, they are not left wanting, we cannot forget His words "Are you not much more valuable than they?"  

My team and some of our work, God knows exactly what we need :)

My teammate and Eddy, it's the group!

Washing the Chairs for Church,

trying to get them to once again be white :) 

One of the main moments we felt like we were truly becoming one with Costa Rica.
We Burned all the trash :D 

Cats and mice! The kids love this game so much!

"Whatever you do, work heartily, as for the Lord and not for men, knowing that from the Lord you will receive the inheritance as your reward. You are serving the Lord Christ." - Colossians 3:23-24

"And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him." - Colossians 3:17

Some Of My Devo Time Here In Costa :)

Love, a word that has always been so dear to my heart, I word I thought I kinda understood.  But, it is a word that I don’t think I will ever fully understand.  I might know the dictionary definition, I might know the Corinthian definition, but as life goes on I am learning more and more of what Love truly means.  1 John 4:10 “And this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His son to be the propitiation for our sins.” Yea, I memorized this verse in training, I can say it by heart, but do I truly – with all I am – understand this use of the word Love? Not even close.  This, the greatest form of love, is so close and still so foreign to me.  

I say I love you to my parents, brothers, family, friends, my class of IGNITE,  and to my Savior.  But, do my actions follow my words, are they a close second, do I even know what actions I should take?  How naive of me to think that I could actually have an understanding of this vast word love? Jesus tells us to love our enemies and do good to those who hurt you.  He asks us to look through His eyes, with a heavenly perspective.  He does not wish us to look through our own lenses that are so often scuffed and dirty.   I want to grow in Christ’s love.  The Bible says they will know you by your love for one another, for Christ is our example, we are called to love as He loves. Wow! How then should our love look?  That is truly insane, utterly insane, if you think about it. 

“God will not judge us according to how much we endured, but how much we could love.  The Christians who suffer for their faith in prison could love, I am a witness that they could both love God and man.”

– Underground Christian, prisoner.

“Do not forget to entertain strangers, for by doing so some people have entertained angels without even knowing it.” – Hebrews 13:2

To all men my love is to look like Christ’s.  The world’s standard and God’s standard of love is so far apart and different.  Being in the middle is not what I am called to, I am not to be luke warm.  Search me oh God and know my heart, try me and know my ways, teach me how to love like You, for I cannot love on my own as You have loved me. 

Let Go and Let God

“Be careful, or your hearts will be weighed down with the carousing, drunkenness, and the anxieties of life, and that day will close in on you suddenly like a trap.” – Luke 21:34

                Over and over again during training we were reminded that while on the field, and for the rest of our lives, our first mission fields are ourselves.  After ourselves comes our team, the people that God has put together to work for His glory.  When focused on these two things, when one is constantly mindful of keeping Christ the center, running their race well and not becoming stagnant, then his or her work on the mission field God will bless.  How can one pour out on people, if they themselves are empty?  I read this verse in my devotions the day after I had started to feel a little weighed down with the anxieties of the world (God always knows what we need).  It can be so easy to worry about things and, especially for me, people that we care about.  We can’t see into the future and many times our hands are tied and we are incapable of doing anything.   Yet God continues to bring me back to Matthew 6:33-34, “But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.  Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself.  Each day has enough trouble of its own.”

                We so easily can begin to slip into worry and anxiety.  But, by doing this we are taking our eyes off the Author of Life and becoming distracted by the world.  Concern and worry are two different things, and concern should bring us to our knees and bring us to the cross so that we can lay it down at the feet of our Creator.  This is something that God has been continually showing me, and exactly how much I need to completely rest in Him.  He knows exactly what I need and what those around me need.  If I seek Him first in all that I do, if I don’t get distracted by the worries of this world, but instead I am distracted by Jesus, then I will know that I am in His perfect will.  I can do nothing to further His Kingdom by my own strength, and I can never change someone’s heart.  I need to lean not on my own understanding, but trust in Him with all, key word, all of my heart, and fully allow Him to direct my path.  Peace and Joy are two of the gifts of the Holy Spirit, showing that we are filled with Him, anxiety is the opposite of these two things.  I want to be distracted by Jesus. 

First Week of working with the kids has been amazing!  I know that I was only home for ten days, but I truly missed being jumped by some adorable children.  God is so good all the time.   

Happy Easter From Costa Rica!!! 

"Therefore, since we have a great high priest who has ascended into heaven, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold firmly to the faith we profess. For we do not have a high priest who is unable to empathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are—yet he did not sin. Let us then approach God’s throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need." - Hebrews 4:14-16

Got to help paint the new church today and meet some amazing people that we will be spending six months with! :) 

Cooked Our First Meal Here in Costa Rica!! :) 

Do We Live In Vain?

“Therefore I do not run like someone running aimlessly; I do not fight like a boxer beating the air.”

– 1 Corinthians 9:26

                When I read this verse I immediately thought of a track where people continually run around, sometimes for hours, but they never actually get anywhere.  They are running and running, but they are not running to any destination.  I know for sure, within my own life, I have felt like I was running around in circles, just making myself dizzy and disappointing myself because I was not getting anywhere.  I also know that all of the moments in my life where I felt like this, I was also doing the second half of this verse, simply wasting my efforts beating the air.  I was fighting a fight that was not worth fighting, I was holding on to things I should have given to God and I was depending on my own strength.  This verse, though, begins with therefore. 

                This entire week we have been looking at how we, as Christians, are to run our race for Christ.  We are to run, not to gain anything of this world, but instead run for the glory of our creator.  We are to have self-control and discipline, training ourselves for the race.  Here Paul is concreting what he previously said, and so he is not only telling us how to run the race, but very specifically how not to run this race.  He is saying don’t run without a purpose, with no goal of any worth to work towards.  We are not just going for a jog through a field of flowers to kill some time, we are running for our eternity with our savior.  Where at any moments we could be disqualified, we need to not run aimlessly, but with God’s aim continually at the forefront of our minds.

                Paul also says that we are not to fight like a boxer beating the air.  When I read this the word that I continually thought of was pointless.  Seriously, how pointless is it to beat at the air, all one accomplishes in this is that they lose all their strength.  And yet, how convicting is this half of the verse and how often do we continually beat a dead horse, because we oddly think that might bring it life?  I know that is a cliché, but as Elijah said before, clichés all started with tons of truth behind them.  We fight so hard over things we have not control over, over things that don’t matter, non-salvific issues and things we want to be brought back to life.  But what good does that do us?  We are simply wasting the strength God gives us to for His glory, to feed our own pride.  Paul is saying, therefor throw off these ways of man.  God has told you how to run your race for His glory, now choose discipline, choose love, choose faith, choose passions and choose to run for Him.

DON’T USE GODS RIGHTEOUSNESS AS AN EXCUSE TO NOT BE RIGHTEOUS

“For I tell you that unless your righteousness surpasses that of the Pharisees and the teachers of the law, you will certainly not enter the Kingdom of Heaven.” – Matthew 5:20

Oh the Pharisees and teachers of the law.  Within churches today they get such a bad rap, they are the ones that people point to and say “never be like them.”  The funny thing is that Jesus was a teacher of the law, He was a rabbi.  I think that many times when people look at the leaders and teachers of the synagogue they can throw the baby out with the bath water.  Let me explain what I mean by that.  Unfortunately, no matter where we go in this world we will always find people who start drama, politics, and people hungry for power.  This is what was happening in the synagogue in New Testament time, which is why we see Jesus turning over tables in the temple and chasing people out with whips.  This was not all the leaders, but unfortunately, it is usually the bad side of the coin that tends to be facing up and drawing attention.  But, for a moment, let’s take away the negative and just look at their way of life.

The Pharisees and teachers of the law lived their lives with God being the focus of everything.  They had (and still have) prayers of thanks for everything, prayers for giving them life that day to prayers of thanks for the water that they wash their hands with.  They had massive amounts of scripture memorized, usually at least the entire Torah.  They lived their lives in accordance to the law, they held themselves to such a high standard.  Many times, they thought they could consider themselves faultless according to the law, because Jesus is the one who brought to light that the evil in our hearts and minds is also sin.  The Pharisees and teachers of the law, lived and breathed Judaism.  I think of Paul when he writes in Philippians chapter three verse four, “If someone else thinks that they have reason to put confidence in the flesh, I have more.”  He continues to explain his statement saying, “circumcised on the eighth day, of the people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews; in regard to the law, a Pharisee; as for zeal, persecuting the church; as for righteousness based on the law faultless.”  Paul is telling the Philippians that he has reason to boast in his flesh, according to the Judaic law he was an extremely righteous man.  He had given his entire being over to what he believed in and he was willing to do anything for his God. But, then we see that Paul says, in verse seven, “But whatever were gains to me I now consider loss for the sake of Christ.”  According to the world Paul was as righteous as a man can be, and yet Paul came to the realization, when He knew Christ, that his so called righteousness was dirt in the eyes of the Lord.   Paul, a Pharisee that I think actually had a genuine heart for the Lord, saw all of his righteousness as loss, as rubbish.

If a man, that the temple would consider fully righteous in the eyes of the law, cannot enter the Kingdom of Heaven, then why do we think we would be able to enter the Kingdom of heaven by our works?  Paul had literally thrown his entire being into following God, and still his righteousness was rubbish.  I think that we can learn a lot from Paul’s life: do we throw ourselves completely into our Christian faith, are we going 110% for our God? And if so, why do we do what we do?  Do we think that going all out for God will make our righteousness shine before all man, do we think that we can prove ourselves good through our works?  Is that why we go all out for God?  In Psalm 37:5-6 it says, “Commit your way to the Lord; trust in Him and He will do this: He will make your righteousness shine like the dawn, your vindication like the noonday sun.”  It is only through Jesus that we can enter into the Kingdom of Heaven, into the presence of God.  We are to simply commit our entire life over to Him, and He will wash us white as snow.

We Are Made For More

“Everyone who competes in the games goes into strict training.  They do it to get a crown that will not last, but we do it to get a crown that will last forever.” – 1 Corinthians 9:25

                Who do I run this race for?  For the glory of God, or the glory of man?  Ultimately, if I am striving after anything of this world I am running my race for the wrong reasons.  That doesn’t mean that I am going after things that are morally wrong, or that I am running after things that God might ultimately want for me.  But, am I running the race in my own power, to please those around me, or am I running the race completely in Him, letting Him be the strength to move my feet?  We can sometime (or a lot of times) work so hard to please those around us, we can live to make others happy.  We put all of our efforts in being what man wants us to be, or expects us to be.  We often times run for the very things of this world that will trip us up, and bring us away from our Savior, things that only last for a season.

                I love the analogy of the rope.  Picture for a moment a long rope, like a really long rope.  The rope is completely white, except for the very end where there is about an inch of red.  The rope represents our lives, to a certain extent.  The white is our life of eternity and the red is our life here on earth.  We put so much effort in getting the crown that will diminish, when we should be focused on the rest of the rope, our eternity with Christ.  It is like the golf ball analogy we saw in today’s video, we are so small and God is so big.  Our life here on earth is so small compared to the eternity we will spend with Christ, but every choice we make here on earth will affect the rest of the rope.  That doesn’t mean we will be perfect, far from it.  But, another thing that stands out to me about the rope analogy is that our lives here on earth are in red.  We will not be able to enter into the white, unless we are covered by the blood of Christ, and in that go through strict training to fight against our flesh and stay in the Lords will.

                We truly are made for more, and when we begin to train ourselves and listen to our coach (the Holy Spirit) God will be able to use us on this earth in ways we could never imagine.  So many times we think that God is looking for people that are marathon runners.  People that are strong, have endurance and who have the natural ability to win.  But, that is the farthest thing from the truth.  God is looking for people that aren’t running a race for man, instead they are empting themselves so that God can work through them in the race.  People that are willing to go through strict training so that they might bring glory to God.  

He has It

“And be found in Him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ – the righteousness that comes from God on the basis of faith.” – Philippians 3:9

Faith, confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see (Hebrews 11:1).  That word confidence seems to keep finding its way back into my life, but in all different circumstances.  I think of George Muller, he was a man of amazing faith and confidence in his God.  He would thank God for a meal before there was even food, he had such a strong confidence in his God and he knew that God could do more than he could ever imagine.  This verse starts out with “And be found in Him,” which reminds of Moses, when God tells him to reach within himself and his hand comes out with leprosy.  Before that God told Moses to pick up a snake (his staff) by the tail.  Of course I cannot be positive, but since Moses was a Shepard for forty years I would assume that he knew that you never, ever, pick up a snake by its tail.  Only someone who wants to be bitten by a snake would pick it up by the tail, you always grab at its neck, right at the head.  But, Moses couldn’t have control, he had to let go and let God.

Moses had no confidence in himself, he told God that he couldn’t be his messenger, because he couldn’t even speak.  We see that God just reminds Moses of who it was who created his mouth, his lungs, and his voice box, everything that gave him the ability to speak.  Moses had to be found in Christ, he couldn’t reach in himself, because that would only produce leprosy; when your body just starts to die and rot.  Instead, he had to have confidence in the Lord and pick up his staff by the tail.  He had to let God take the lead, Moses put himself in Gods will.  One could follow all the commandments and still not be walking in the will of the Lord.  That is why our righteousness cannot come from the law, but must come from God on the foundation of faith.  We are only found in Him, when we continually abide in Him.  Moses had to have faith that God would not let the snake turn around and bite him, and have confidence that God would lead him on the right path.  It sometimes can be really hard to let go.  When we can’t be there for people, when we have no idea what is going on in the lives of those we love the most, it can hard to let go and put all of our faith in Christ.  Yet, we need to have confidence in God and His perfect will.  He can see the end from the beginning and He is in control.

When those around you are literally tearing apart their lives, when you can see them ultimately hurting themselves and their future it can be hard to wait on the Lord.  Yet, faith is confidence in what we hope for; knowing that our Lord listens to our prayers and is always working, even if we don’t see it.  Faith is also the assurance in what we don’t see.  I always thought that this verse was talking about Jesus, that we can have assurance that He is working, even when we cant’s see it.  But, I think it is also can relate to those who have been separated from their families and loved ones.  This happens all the time to persecuted Christians, and it becomes a daily choice of putting their faith in God.  Even when we can’t see or communicate with the ones we love, we have to joyfully put our complete faith in the Lord.  We can do nothing.  When we reach within ourselves we pull out leprosy, but when we can be found in our Heavenly Father and we are walking in His will, we can have confidence and assurance in His power.  For God only asks us to pray, there are times he calls us for more, but The Holy Spirit is the only one who can truly change ones heart. I can’t even count how many times I have heard things like this or read this verse and yet, God is continually reminding me to just love, read, pray and have faith.

Christ + Nothing = Everything

“What is more, I consider everything a loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things.  I consider them garbage, that I may gain Christ.”   - Philippians 3:8

                Many churches are now preaching the Prosperity Gospel.  They teach people that God will make them rich, happy, and wise.  Unfortunately, so many believe the lie that this is what the Gospel of Christ is all about. They don’t change their lifestyle, they don’t live to glorify Christ, but instead they put Him on a shelf like a genie.  How often do we do something similar as Christians?  We ask God for things or beg Him not to take away certain things or people from our lives.  When we don’t let go, many times God – because He loves us – has to take them away.  The Bible never says that God will give us a worldly prosperity, but God does tell us that He will be our provider.  What’s more, Paul is telling us the opposite, he tells us that he considers everything, which is not the gospel, garbage.  Do I look at things of the world in this light?

                The Holy Spirit convicts, comforts, teaches and leads.  Many times when the Holy Spirit leads us to do something, a fear can come over us.  I know that for me, the hard conversations I have to have with people I don’t know very well are easier, then the conversations I have to have with the people closest to me.  Why? That is an easy answer, because of fear.  The fear of losing what you most love or care about.  But, this fear also shows my doubt in God’s plan and His promise that He will work all things for the good of those who love Him.  This week’s theme is sacrifice, which is funny, because this past week God has really been showing me that I need to have faith in the leading of the Holy Spirit in my life.  This doesn’t always mean conversations that I need to have, or things that I need to say will be easy, but I can have peace knowing He is in control.  Ultimately, the more I think about it I remember everything that Christ has done for me.  I should be going to hell, I shouldn’t even be allowed in His house as a slave and yet He calls me His daughter.  How selfish of me to hold onto the things of this world, instead of giving myself fully to God, and how funny to think that it is a great sacrifice.  Those we love He asks us to give to Him, not shy away from His leading in fear of losing them.  I crack myself up when God reminds me that His will is perfect and that He knows what is best, so me not following it would actually cause harm, not good.  Christ + Nothing = Everything.  I don’t have a home here on earth, my home is in heaven, and I pray that Holy Spirit would constantly remind me of this.

Making Ourselves Slaves to the World

“Though I am free and belong to no one, I have made myself a slave to everyone, to win as many as possible.” – 1 Corinthians 9:19

                With many of the current social movements, one can see that people are strongly against feeling like they belong to someone.  Many women are no longer taking their husband’s name, because they want to be their own person, not having to take on a man’s last name.  Many people are not even getting married anymore, so that they will not have an attachment or obligation to their significant others.  Everyone wants to live for themselves, nobody wants to make a commitment.  If one so chooses to, it is extremely easy to cut oneself off from the world, to not be attached to anything or anyone.  In order for this to be possible one has to truly not care about the relationships they have with the people around them -  they have to be completely centered on self.  So many times within society we see people starting to feel attached to people or a person, and so they cut themselves off or hurt the person, to break the attachment.  We, as Christians, have that same freedom.  We could cut ourselves off from the world, we could segregate ourselves.  But, if we look at Christ’s example, I don’t think that is what God would will for our lives.

                To be a servant to all people opens a door to be hurt by many people.  That is why so many people find it is easier to live for self, because then no one can hurt them (except themselves).  But, if we walk into this world scared of how it can hurt us, how big have we made our God?  Do we really have confidence in His will for our lives, do we have confidence in His love for us?  Jesus said that the world would know us by our love for one another.  We can’t show love to people, if we refuse to “belong” to anyone.  Jesus was a servant for all men, He died on the cross even though He knew many of His children would just turn around and spit in His face.  Jesus was abandoned by those He had poured himself into for three years, He healed ten lepers and only one came back to thank Him, Jesus was a servant to all men not matter the consequences.  When we give our lives to Christ He gives us two commands: love the Lord your God and love your neighbor as yourself.  If we truly love our neighbors, why would we hide the One who has saved us from them?  We could be the one God wants to use in their life to bring them to a saving knowledge of Him.  Why would we watch them walk down the path to hell, instead of being a servant and letting God work through us?  Truly, this is using our liberty for the flesh instead of using our liberty for the glory of God.  Galatians 5:13, “You, my brothers and sisters, were called to be free. But do not use your freedom to indulge the flesh; rather, serve one another humbly in love.”

Dying To Self

“Won’t he rather say, ‘prepare my supper, get yourself ready and wait on me while I eat and drink’? – Luke 17:8

                I can picture this scene happening in my mind.  The servant coming into the house after an extremely long day at work (all he wants to do is take a nap), yet as soon as he walks in the door his master is giving him another task.  As we saw in verse seven, pretty much no master will say to his servant “come sit, eat and drink with me,” or in other words “I know you’ve had a long day, sit down and eat, I want to say thank you.”  No, he says “get yourself ready.”  Just trying to imagine what it would be like plowing a field all day, the servant is most likely extremely dirty and sweaty.  So, his master says go clean yourself up, because you need to serve me my food and drink.  I wonder what goes through the servants head when he hears this.  Does he wonder if his master ever does anything for himself, if he has ever had to plow a field? Or, is he grateful for the fact that he is able to work? 

                I can think of so many moments in my own life where I just had an extremely long day and I am mentally and physically exhausted.  Yet, people continue to demand things from me and I sometimes can feel as if they don’t even give any thought to what my day was like.  I remember so many times where I thought I had the right to complain, and say I shouldn’t have to do this.   Sometime I would voice this opinion and other times I would just do things with a bad attitude.  There were definitely times that I went into it with a servant’s heart, but it was far from all the time.  I think that it can be easy to fall into the trap of feeling like you are doing people a favor and they should acknowledge that.  I can easily say that when I had bosses that were understanding and encouraging I wanted to work extra time for them and give them my best.  But, then you have the bosses that no matter how hard you work or how well you do, nothing (and I mean nothing) is ever good enough.  It is so hard to continually work with a servant’s heart, a heart of humility and joy, a heart that is working for the glory of God.  Yet, we as Christians are here to represent Christ, we need to die to ourselves daily.  Jesus was the perfect example of humility and servant hood and we need to follow that example. 

Where Do We Look For Approval??

“And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to death – even death on the cross!” – Philippians 2:8

                The humility of Jesus Christ, wow.  It is something we all know, Jesus was humble, but the IBS’s this week have truly been touching my heart.  The thought that He, Jesus Christ, would come and be a servant of man and leave the fact that He is God at the doorstep of heaven.  Looking at each of these verses has forced me to look a lot deeper into each one and God has really been showing me His love through the humility of Jesus Christ.  I really can’t rap my mind around the fact of what Jesus did for a world that would continually betray and turn on Him.  We do not have the capability to love Christ the way that He love us, and yet He loves us.  A lot of people choose not to love Christ at all, and yet He loves them. The Bible says those that you love the most, a lot of times, will not return that love, and I know how true this can be.  It can be so hard to continue loving those that keep spitting in your face and yet Christ loves us.

                I find me laughing at myself as I read this verse and think of the rest of the chapter.  How often do I look for approval in the eyes of man?  The answer is all the time.  I can even remember times I looked for approval of man over the approval of God.  We look for the approval of people who, even if they don’t mean to, will at some point let us down.  Just like we will disappoint those around us, because we are human.  We look for approval from things and people who are not eternal, that don’t always have or best interests in mind or that will only do us good here on earth.  We have a heavenly Father who loves us so much, He sent His son to die in our place.  Jesus Christ, leaving all of His rights of being God behind, died on the cross for us.  We are the termites of the earth, we are cockroaches compared to Jesus, and yet He gave up His life for us.  When I really think about this, I really do laugh at myself.  My Savior who is perfect and holy asks only for my life in return for all He has done for me, and yet I so often look for the approval of man.  This life is just a mere fraction of eternity, what should I be living for?

Undeserving

“rather, he made himself nothing by taking the very nature of servant, being made in human likeness.” – Philippians 2:7

                When a child purposefully disobeys their parents, in many ways they are saying I know better than you.  Parents lay out rules for their child’s benefit, but children love to disobey them.  I remember seeing a sign in an ice-cream shop that said “Quick! Move out, Get a Job, and Pay your way, while you still know it all.”  The sign was talking about teenagers and how, more often than not, this is their mind set towards life.  How often is this our attitude toward our heavenly Father? So many times when God tells us no, we say maybe.  He gives us countless examples and we still think that we are different and that we know better. Jesus Christ is our example of how to live our lives as children of God and yet we so often put ourselves above Jesus and say “I don’t (or can’t) do it that way.”  Jesus laid aside Himself and had His eyes set on others, He was God, yet He took on the nature of a servant.  The Son of Man came down to this earth born in a smelly manger, to wash some dirty feet, be betrayed by His friends, to suffer a death that we all deserved, and we complain when we are stuck on sweeping duty.

Many times our pride gets in the way and makes us think that we deserve better.  We think that we need to help God out and show Him what we are capable of, because sweeping doesn’t even start to hit all of our strengths.  It can be so hard for us to put ourselves in the position of nothing.  We all want to have meaning, and the pride in us loves to get noticed.  Yet, our Savior placed Himself in the position of a servant and He still does.  Jesus Christ is sitting at the right hand of God, interceding on our behalf.  This is so mind blowing and humbling.  Jesus is praying for me; the one that continually messes things up, the sinner.  Why?  Because He loves me so much, He doesn’t care about Himself and He is not controlled by pride.  My God serves me, so how much more should I commit my life to be His servant.  In all truthfulness, I don’t even deserve that honor.

Mind Blown

“In your relationship with one another, have the same mindset as Christ Jesus: Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be used to His own advantage;” – Philippians 2:5-6

                As a child growing up my brothers and I would enter into a world of imagination and play for hours.  Whether we were Jedis swinging lightsabers, or cowboys firing our guns, we could always have an adventure.  We could make up any super power and in that moment we could believe we truly had that super power.  I remember playing “Rock, Paper, Scissors” one day and my brother called God.  I immediately told him that it wasn’t fair, because God beats all things.  I say all of this because when I first read this verse, I tried to imagine what it would be like to be God.  He holds the universe in His hands, He knows every breath we take before we are even conceived, and He has power over all things, because He made all things.  I can’t even fathom how immense the power of God is, it blows my mind trying to think about it.  But, what blows my mind even more is that Jesus Christ, being God, denied Himself that power and lived as a human.  Even when Satan tempted Christ in the desert, He held fast to His confidence in His Father, but He didn’t claim His own rights as God.

                There were so many instances within Jesus life where He could have made use of who He is, for example when He was put on the cross.  Jesus could have used His equality with God to stop any pain, or stop the whole process completely, but He didn’t.   Why?  Because He loved us, dirty sinners, with an unexplainable unconditional love.  The account of when Jesus washes the disciples feet was burned into my mind the first week here, at IGNITE.   I feel as if I have used it to so many times already in my IBS’s, but the elephant of that story is still so powerful.  Jesus Christ is God, and yet Jesus washes His disciples feet, putting Himself in the lowest position on earth.  But, the thing that blows my mind about this account the most, is that Jesus had the foreknowledge and knew that they were going to abandon Him, deny Him and betray Him.  Yet, even knowing all of this, knowing that the ones He was about to go to suffer the wrath of God for were going to turn on Him, He washed their feet to show them servant hood, to show them His unconditional love. 

                This is an example for us in so many ways, but in this instances we can take the example of not putting ourselves above others because we are saved.  We are no better then those who do not know the Lord.  Instead of putting ourselves above them, our hearts should break for them.  They are blind and we can see; yet, so many times we don’t share the reason for our sight.  Christ is God and He humbled Himself below His creation, how much more should we humble ourselves and love everyone around us?  Not looking at them for their sin, but looking at them as a child of God that He wants to redeem.